One of the advantages Xbox One owners have over PS4 owners is that Microsoft’s ecosystem is finally being knitted tightly and so anyone with Windows 10 can play Xbox games on their PC through the official app. Sony has promised that it would release a similar app so that PS4 players can enjoy their games on a PC too but there is currently no information on when the app will arrive. Today we will look at an unofficial Remote Play app by Twisted and also how you can emulate the Android Remote Play app with ease.
Remote Play PC
The app with the straightforward name lets anyone connect their PS4 and Windows PC in order to play pretty much any game on their monitors. You can get Remote Play PC here but it is going to cost you $10/£6.50 for a license that can be activated in up to 5 computers. The app is still in Alpha which means that bugs are to be expected yet it is advanced enough that you can play most games without issue. Games can be streamed at 60 FPS with a 720p resolution that can be scaled to the resolution of your desktop.
The quality of the streaming depends entirely on your setup. For example, connecting both the PS4 and the PC through Wi-Fi will produce the worst results whereas connecting at least one device with a cable will instantly improve the stream’s performance. The PC requirements are not that high but more powerful PCs are obviously better candidates for Remote Play.
BlueStacks and Remote Play
The second way of streaming PS4 games to your PC takes advantage of BlueStacks, an Android emulator that supports Sony’s Remote Play app for Android as seen in this thread. Basically, running the app through BlueStacks is virtually the same as running it in a normal Android device so you will be able to control the PS4 from anywhere. The problem with this method is that controller support is buggy at best and latency is definitely an issue, much more so than the Remote Play PC app. The only advantage is that you do not have to pay a single dime so it may be suited to budget-conscious gamers.
Install and use Twisted’s Remote Play PC
After grabbing the app from the link above, install it and enter your license key in order to activate it. Once you enter the code, the app will display a message confirming its activation and will automatically shut down so you will have to re-launch it.
When you are done with that, boot up your PS4 and go to Settings > Remote Play Connection Settings and select the “Add Device” option. A number will be displayed on your screen so note it down somewhere, go back to the Remote Play PC app and enter it in the “PIN” field of the “Register PS4” window. You will also need to enter your PlayStation Account Name which you can find here. After filling all the details, click on the Register button and a confirmation dialogue should appear. Just click on OK and move on.
Click on the PS4 menu at the top and select the Connect option. You can either enter the IP address of your PS4 in order to connect manually or allow the app to scan and connect to your PS4 automatically. If the automatic method does not work, go to your PS4 and visit WhatsMyIP.org or just go to Google and search for “what’s my IP” in order to retrieve the device’s public IP address which you can enter manually. Depending on your configuration, you may also need to forward a few ports on your router. The ever-brilliant Port Forward page can give you detailed instructions for your specific router so once you are familiar with how to do it, go ahead and open these ports: UDP 987, TCP 9295, and UDP 9296.
While you can technically game away immediately after connecting your PS4 and PC, you should configure your controller before doing anything. Open the Remote Play PC app and go to Settings > Controller.
You will need to select your controller from the list and remap every button manually. Changes are saved automatically so just close the Controller window when you are done.
Install and use Remote Play via BlueStacks
Download BlueStacks and install it on your PC. Then, visit this XDA thread to download the Remote Play APK file. Once you have the file, install it in BlueStacks, sign in to your PS4 account and follow the app’s instructions in order to connect to your PS4.
This is pretty much all it takes and you can technically start gaming on your PS4 immediately. However, as I mentioned before, this method has various issues which are detrimental to a nice gaming session. First of all, you will need to find a way to use your PS4 controller with the app. You can do that via the Sixaxis Controller app for Android or by following our guide on using your PS4 controller on Windows. Even if you solve that problem, there is no way to reduce latency to acceptable levels so you will only be able to play games that do not require fast decisions or precise movements. Of course, you can also complete other tasks remotely so this free method will definitely cover the needs of some users
